Good day to start the weather was bliss and we were both keen to get on the road and start the tour. Though we had no plans for that evening it didn’t stop us being enthusiastic about the day’s journey.

4miles down the road nature called so we headed into the library to use there facilities. Then got lost in the world of wifi until nearly 2pm! So the early start went out of the window.

As we battled though the baking sun the route took us through the rugged suburbs of Auckland. We had a pause at local food stop where there was many crime prevention posters and warning signs for policed areas. The sound of ‘boy racer’ engines being revved was our signal to push on. Nice to see we were getting on well already, sorry mum!!

We arrived at an idilic field at Admare town hall and was considering camping here for the night. Though still unaware of the true meaning of ‘freedom camping’ we contacted the council to check. This turned into a 40 minute phone call resulting in us not being allowed to camp and then they even hung up on us (won’t be doing that again). We later found out the that Freedom Camping is allowed in designated areas and will be signed. Unless you are self contained you can’t camp at the road side or in the bush etc. As one fellow tourer put it ‘many campers spoilt the freedom camping facilities by leaving stain toilet doilies lying around, particularly over during the Rugby World Cup back in 2011’.

We pushed on to the next town where we headed to the fish and chip shop to get some advice, one guy said the school might be a good shout, while another mentioned the rugby pitch. So back on the road at 8pm and we were quickly loosing light.

Then finally this beautiful creek and park appeared round the corner and all it took was to see another tent across the way to encourage us to pitch up.